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Today on Frederick the Great: Voltaire is entrusted with a sacred charge
and Frederick the Great stumbles upon potential greatness through the only
intermediary he only ever truly understands: headwear.

The Count harumphs:
The relationship between Voltaire and Frederick the Great was complicated. At first, Frederick worshipped Voltaire the way that, say, Napoleon worshipped Julius Caesar or Geoff worships Shigeru Miyamoto. Voltaire, for his part, was probably flattered by Frederick’s attention and impressed by his pacifistic and enlightened plans for Prussia. At the very least, he liked having a lucrative place to go when the Heat Was On in France.
Then Frederick became King and launched a war. Voltaire didn’t particularly like that.
Then Voltaire visited Frederick, spending the King’s money all the while spying on him for the French court, defrauding the Prussian state, and generally pissing on anybody he thought might remotely challenge his preeminence (particularly the head of the Berlin Academy, who was too ill to really fight back). Frederick didn’t particularly like that.
But, they kept writing to each other throughout their lives, even after Voltaire wrote reams of satire describing Frederick as a debauched tyrant constantly followed by a chosen pack of young boys. So, who can say?
Special thanks to Geoff this issue for indulging my love of quarter-circle corner cut-outs. They do warm my cockles so.
– DvL